The constant barrage of Holiday movies being played on every major television station has taken its toll on us here at Hurley. The movies got us so psyched on the Holidays that we decided to give away boatloads of free stuff to random Facebook commenters. Each selected winner had the choice of picking out a free Hurley jacket or donating the cash value of that jacket to have Hurley purchase a water filter on their behalf, and — through our H2O initiative — donate it to a region in need of clean drinking water. If the winner selected the second option — which all of them so graciously did — they received a Mystery Box in the mail. Here's what was in them…

In late September two roommates from Southern California, Shane and Andy, visited El Salvador to surf and do some good along the way. Inspired by the Waves For Water initiative, they decided to bring water filtration systems to the region, where water scarcity and quality are of huge concern. Click through for the whole story and for more information on Waves For Water, click here.

Hurley and Hurley )(2O teamed up with Variety Magazine for their Power of Youth event last weekend. Power of Youth encourages top young talent to get involved with philanthropic and humanitarian causes, using their positions in pop culture to motivate others. All good, but the real story here might be the fact that Captain Phantom was too star-struck by Rebecca Black, of "Friday" fame, to ask for a photo. And speaking of photos, click through for some neat images from the event.

The latest addition to The Ecology Center's toolkit for water conservation is The Water Shed, a mobile learning device. On its maiden voyage, The Water Shed, visited a group of local second graders. While half of the class learned about the effect daily choices have on their watershed, the other half learned about global water access and how 1 in 6 people around the world depend on less than 5 gallons of water a day. For more information on The Ecology Center, visit their website here.

As we speak, Jon Rose and photographer/filmer Tom Aiello are somewhere high up in the Andes befriending Alpacas, and more importantly bringing water to Peruvians in need. Tom sent us some choice photos, saying that it was hard not to send us all of them. If these first ones are any indication, they're well on their way to another life changing adventure. Stay tuned for more from the front line.

Jon Rose, the man behind Waves For Water, and the rest of the H2O crew headed down to Peru with their sights set on the Andes. While the boys got acclimated, they took some photos and sent them over with this note: "Hey boys... Just a few pics from yesterday... We're cruising around cusco area until Sat, getting acclimated, etc... then we'll head up the mountain to give the Q'ero people water on Sat. This place is truly breathtaking... Adios!" - JR. Click through for all of Jon's photos.

"Hurley Rocks You Back To School with The Honda Civic Tour completed two more rocking stops - Salt Lake City, Utah & Denver, Colorado. Salt Lake featured quite the musical line up – H20, Rancid, My Chemical Romance and Blink-182! The stunning Aussie MJ held down our “One & Only” Free Photo Booth, and Jorge customized special edition T-Shirts for fans checking in wearing Hurley. Denver featured an early afternoon of live local music until the main doors opened at 6PM. Our Team handed out the early birds Free Hurley hats, kids jumped in our Photo Booth, and we slammed high fives! Next stop: St. Paul Minnesota at the Xcel Energy Center. Ya hoooooo!!" -- Cpt. Phantom

The 2011 US Open of Surfing, presented by Nike, Hurley and Converse wrapped up yesterday. With 1 million people in attendance throughout the week, free live music featuring MGMT, Jimmy Eat World and others, a Walk the Walk National Championship, and the world's best surfers battling it out in great HB surf, it's pretty clear that 2011 US Open of Surfing will go down in the history books as the greatest action sports event of all time -- that is until we make it even better next year. Click into the story for full details and coverage.

We're honored to be partnered with Evan Marks, water conserver extraordinaire, and his foundation, The Ecology Center. So we're stoked to see them getting the recognition they deserve. The International Design Excellence Award committee has recognized The Ecology Center's "Splash!" campaign with the Gold Award in the Environment category, due to its ability to show "how good design can do more than look good; it can drive positive changes in the world." Click through for photos of the Splash! exhibit and full write up of the award. Photos: Courtesy of Evan Marks

We managed to scrape together enough cash to send one of our people up to the Mother Ship (aka the Nike Campus) to cover the 2011 Nike Maxim Awards (we even found some room in the budget to make sure he looked the part, tuxedo t-shirt and all). And we're glad we did, because, for the first time ever, Hurley got the nod for not one, but two Maxim awards. Remember: Nike has 37,515 employees. We have slightly less than that, and we were still voted winners in two major categories -- an incredible achievement considering the numbers. Click into the extended story to get the full report from our man at swoosh headquarters in Portland.